In a quiet, old-fashioned apartment in the mid-Wilshire district, the preacher who sparked the Romanian revolution is taking a break from catching history's treacherous waves. Laszlo Tokes, pale, tired-looking, dark-eyed, seems to fit perfectly with the red chintz chairs, dark furniture and portrait miniatures on the walls.

In 1989 Laszlo Tokes was lifted from obscurity to history. The hand of fate was active again this year, but the consequences were crueler--personally and politically. Two brothers of the Reformed Church pastor and revolutionary were the targets of apparent assassination attempts.

In 1989 Laszlo Tokes was lifted from obscurity to history. The hand of fate was active again this year, but the consequences were crueler--personally and politically. Two brothers of the Reformed Church pastor and revolutionary were the targets of apparent assassination attempts.

In a quiet, old-fashioned apartment in the mid-Wilshire district, the preacher who sparked the Romanian revolution is taking a break from catching history's treacherous waves. Laszlo Tokes, pale, tired-looking, dark-eyed, seems to fit perfectly with the red chintz chairs, dark furniture and portrait miniatures on the walls.

Anti-government protesters cordoned off a busy intersection Monday, and one chamber of the Parliament empowered police to break up the demonstration, setting up the battle lines for a new confrontation. The brutality unleashed against residents of the capital last week has served only to embolden anti-Communist demonstrators, who now sense that President Ion Iliescu's new government is on trial with Western democracies.

December 28, 1989 | RUDOLF L. TOKES, Rudolf L. Tokes is a professor of political science at the University of Connecticut. He is not related to the Rev. Laszlo Tokes.

The end of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's regime began on the morning of Dec. 16 in front of the Hungarian Reformed Church in the Transylvanian city of Timisoara. The pastor of the congregation, the Rev. Laszlo Tokes, and his family were about to be evicted by the police and exiled to a remote village. Tokes, a human-rights advocate, chose to resist. "My church is a castle, and the castle is under siege," he said. "It is the castle of Timisoara. Perhaps it must fall.

December 22, 1989 | Translated from the Romanian by Aurelia Leicand of Radio Free Europe.

This account of events in Timisoara, Romania, last weekend was provided to Radio Free Europe by a Romanian-born physician who lives in Austria and was visiting family members in Timisoara at the time. He has asked to remain anonymous to protect his family. This account was written before the later uprisings in Bucharest. The starting point of this situation was (Reformed Church minister and human rights activist the Rev.

Highly placed officials of the World Council of Churches and the Romanian Orthodox Church have acknowledged that neither body raised a strong enough voice of protest against the suffering imposed under the regime of deposed Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. The Rev. Emilio Castro, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, said: "I think we didn't speak strongly enough, that is clear.

Striking taxi drivers and teamsters who paralyzed Hungary for three days by barricading roads, bridges, borders and public transport agreed Sunday to suspend their blockade while Parliament wrestles with a fuel crisis that threatens an economic collapse. The stopgap compromise was expected to restore some semblance of order on Hungarian roads today after a virtual halt to vehicular movement over the weekend.

September 5, 1999 | WES EICHENWALD, Wes Eichenwald is an American freelance writer based in Ljubljana, Slovenia

At a silent signal, up they rise from the vast expanse of Victory Square (Piata Victoriei), a three-block-long rectangle between the Metropolitan Cathedral and the Opera House. The pigeons flutter skyward, circling once, then again, before landing in dense clusters on the facades of Hapsburg-era buildings, most of them at least passably restored to house restaurants, shops and offices.